


After the tremors

by MarauderCracker



Category: Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616, Young Avengers
Genre: F/M, i'm not saying tommy is canonically demi but tommy is canonically demi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-20
Updated: 2014-06-20
Packaged: 2018-02-05 12:52:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1819138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarauderCracker/pseuds/MarauderCracker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kate says David should be flattered. "He only acts like a child and compulsively avoids the people he really cares about." February comes to an end, and David decides to stop thinking about where Tommy might be, about the New Year's kiss, about Tommy's stupid speedster pun.</p>
            </blockquote>





	After the tremors

**Author's Note:**

> Winnie asked for Tommy and David holding hands for the first time at the movies and this happened.

Tommy drops off the map for a long time. "Billy says it's not the first time he does this," America tries, attempting to sound comforting, and David nods. America is not very good at being soft and soothing, but she tries. And David knows that when  _he_ met Tommy, it was because he was avoiding the rest of his friends. David was a stranger back then, and Tommy only talked to strangers. 

Kate says David should be flattered. "He only acts like a child and compulsively avoids the people he really cares about," she explains. She doesn't explain all the new scars that decorate her left shoulder, but she's as reserved about whatever happened in L.A. as Tommy is about... Well. Most of his life.

Conversations with Billy have given David a vague idea of where Tommy really comes from. He doesn't think Tommy would've told him about everything, even if they'd had the time. About losing control of his powers, about juvie, about the experiments. He didn't have the time to find out, though, because Tommy was sucked into another dimension by Not-Patriot when they'd just started to consider each other as 'friends', and disappeared from the radar barely a week after coming back from wherever he'd been. 

David has enough intelligence and resources to be able to track Tommy down. He's just not sure he wants to. February comes to an end, and David decides to stop thinking about where Tommy might be, about the New Year's kiss, about Tommy's stupid speedster pun. 

 

A crack appears on the wall, and light filters through it. It expands slowly, and its brightness makes David squint. America steps into his living room with two Starbucks cups. "Your friend is okay," She informs, handing him one of the two coffees. "I saw him in Yucatán. I don't think he recognized me." She takes a sip of her own beverage before continuing. "It was just a second, but he didn't look hurt or hungry or like he's been sleeping in the streets," she adds, and David is glad he's such a calm and collected person. He'd probably laugh or cry otherwise.

"I don't really know him, but," America shrugs, "I'm sure he's gonna come back eventually." She steals his newspaper and flops on their couch, leaving him to sip his coffee and wonder what makes him care about Shepherd so damn much. 'It's not like I offered a punk runaway from another universe, who I've only known for three months, to be my roommate. Not at all,' he thinks, and America raises her eyebrows at him when he interrupts the silence with his laughter.

 

The apocalypse comes, Kate gathers a few of the Young Avengers and together they kick the apocalypse's ass (it having the form of an intergalactic terrorist with a really stupid supervillain name), Tommy doesn't show up. 

America recruits him to stop a band of weapon dealers that have set their base in the Bronx and are planning to gun down all the other gangs in the area. It ends up with two bullets in David's shoulder, but he meets a really cute med student after the fight, and she gives him her number. She introduces herself as Mica, and her smile is bright and breathtaking. 

They're on their second date, walking around a square full of artisans, discussing if the huge earrings a woman is offering would look better on David or her, when a strong gust of wind almost knocks David off his feet. Except it doesn't feel like wind. It feels way more solid. 

When he turns around, he sees Tommy Shepherd standing a few feet away, looking back at him. He looks surprised. David wants to call his name, but Tommy gapes at him for a second longer and then turns away, disappears into thin air. 

 

David hears something like pages being moved around too fast when he enters the apartment. He wonders if America left a window open, but he doesn't need to ask. As soon as he steps past the door he can see Tommy, sitting in his couch and passing the pages of a book, too fast even for him to read.

"Hey," David calls, and Tommy jumps on his place, drops the book and looks about ready to flee through the window. It takes him only a few seconds to calm down (though David always wonders if it feels longer for him, if Tommy perceives it as five entire minutes of breathing too hard and trying not to bolt), but he finally stands up and says, apologetic, "your friend, uh, America left me in."

David smiles, tilts his head, looks at Tommy. It's another moment before Tommy stops fidgeting, and then he's crossing the room like a tornado and hugging David. He's still skinny and it still feels like he's shivering all the time, and he still pulls away too fast. David doesn't care.

 

They have coffee and they have noodles and Tommy doesn't tell him about juvie or the experiments or the dimension he was trapped in, but he does tell about Mexico and about France and 'man, running across an entire ocean is a surreal experience'. He crashes on their couch for a couple weeks, until he doesn't. He doesn't explain where he's staying, but David doesn't push. He knows too many things about too many people. He can live not knowing the things that Tommy isn't ready to tell. 

 

"So, your friend Tommy," Mica says, and David can feel the headache coming on. Mica is sweet and gorgeous and sexy; and she speaks and moves at a very human speed. She's very straightforward about her feelings and ideas, she's open and clear and kind of perfect. And still, Tommy.

"I kind of accidentally kissed him during New Year's eve. He made a pun, ran away and kissed our mutual friend," David says, smiling. Mica laughs. David hasn't exactly  _told_ her about all of his life. He can't just go around telling people that he used to be an X-Man, that his friends are superheroes. No matter how cute and accepting and trustworthy those people are. "Tommy is different. He works different than you or me, and he's already hard to understand most of the time. When it comes to relationships, it's absolutely impossible."

Mica rolls her eyes. She's told him, when they were on their third date, that she's not looking for a serious relationship. She's got med school to worry about, and there are weeks where she doesn't even have the time to answer messages. She's not afraid to admit that she can be cold and distant, and the idea that setting the boundaries of a relationship might be hard seems ridiculous to her. 

"You got in the middle of a gang fight to help some superhero chick and now you're scared to talk about your feelings?" she asks, and David decides that he should properly introduce her to America. 

 

Tommy is apparently crashing at Eli's. David doesn't personally know Eli, but he knows he's probably one of the most 'adult' ex-YA, according to Kate. Her exact wording, after Tommy tells her too, is "I mean, Eli can be a fucking child and he's got a lot of shit to deal with, but he's good at keeping Tommy on a leash." 

David doesn't know if he considers himself a very patient man or a goddamn coward. It took him like twenty years and a near-death situation to acknowledge that he's not actually straight, so he shouldn't be surprised that it's taking him a few weeks to gather up the courage to speak with Tommy. And, even though Tommy takes a million detours and always forgets the right path, he's faster. He speaks first.

They are having frappuccinos on David's tiny balcony, and it's hot enough that David feels like he might start melting soon, but Tommy's body is still emitting that shiver-like vibration. "I thought I was dreaming, you know?" Tommy starts, because he's never understood how normal conversations work. David looks back at him, confused. "When I was... not here. You say it was weeks." 

Tommy opens his mouth and closes it, then again. David knows enough about speedsters (has absorbed the memories of enough speedsters) to know that he's probably trying not to start talking too fast. He does talk too fast anyways, but not so fast that it becomes unintelligible. "It felt like waking up after a particularly long nap. Like I had a confusing dream. I don't remember what the dream was, but I do remember that it felt like... Like I had been out for a few hours? But you say it was weeks." 

Before David can answer, America's trademark light appears in the middle of the air, just above them. She drops from the bright opening in reality, carrying a box of ice cream and a pile of papers. The top folder reads 'CLASSIFIED' on it, and any conversation is promptly set aside in favor of eating ice cream and planning how to stop some bad guys. 

 

"Come on, it's a new movie! It's not a remake! It's not an adaptation!" Tommy insists, tugging at David's arm until he almost makes him drop his coffee mug. Tommy loves action movies. David hates having to sit through things when he already knows how they will end. But Tommy promises there is no way anyone know the plot to this movie when David still had his powers, so there is  _absolutely no way_ he knows the ending. So he accepts to go to the theater tonight. 

It takes him fifteen minutes to realize Tommy was lying. It's adapted from a comic book, and the title and some of the characters' names have been modified, but it's still too similar. Maybe the ending will be different, David thinks, but the frustration is still there. He's grown unable to enjoy Hollywood media without being annoyed all the time. Tommy seems to be really interested on the secret ploy to murder a prime minister, though, so David pretends to be enjoying the movie.

 

Teddy rubs his temples for about thirty seconds before finally opening his eyes and looking at David. "Are you really, really sure he doesn't think you two are dating?" he asks. David groans and shakes his head. "He's dragged you to the movies like ten times this month. You go out for coffee every other day. He randomly drops by your place with dinner." Teddy lists, and David nods. "Well, that is definitely different to how he acts towards any of his other friends, if you haven't noticed."

"That's how he's always been with me," David points out. If you ignore the 'disappearing completely' part, of course. Teddy just smiles at him, like he's waiting for David to catch up. 

 

This movie is excellent. Not a remake. Not an adaptation. David is honestly surprised at every plot twist. There are references to other things; one particularly funny rephrasing of a Terminator dialogue that Tommy doesn't catch but makes David laugh out loud. The soundtrack is excellent, the fight scenes are really well done and, out the three heroes, one of the girls and the dude are super hot. He can't help but point it out, and Tommy laughs. Someone shushes them. 

"I know, he's the only celebrity crush Kate and I agree on," is Tommy's answer. "Now shut up, everything's about to go to hell." On screen, the main heroine looks at her watch. Tommy grabs David's hand just as the hot guy screams at the other characters to run for cover. Tommy's excitement feels like an earthquake crawling up David's arm. 

He revels in it and decides that he's gonna stop being an idiot and talk to him as soon as the movie is over.


End file.
